Alana of Chiron
by Moonlady
Summary: The Enterprise is ordered to run a mercy mission to Chiron. They bring with them Alana, for reasons unknown. Data takes a liking to her. Crappy summary is crappy. Worse story is worse. Rewrote the first chapter.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**: Redoing the first chapter. I didn't like where the first draft was going.  
This story is supposed to take place after Data gets his emotion chip in Generations. No specific dates otherwise.

* * *

Data and Captain Picard were walking towards transporter room 3.  
"I can't believe headquarters is sending along anyone on this mission, let alone a civilian. Chiron is a notoriously dangerous and war-torn planet. What possible purpose could someone with no military training have there?" Picard asked Data, somewhat rhetorically.  
"Perhaps our guest does have military training. A warrior of some sort that Starfleet is sending in surreptitiously?" Data responded.  
"That's exactly what I was insinuating." Picard said just as they were entering the transporter room. Riker and Worf were already there.  
"Is the party ready to beam aboard?" Picard asked O'Brien.  
"Aye sir, but there's only one." O'Brien corrected. Picard looked at him in surprise.  
"Very well, energize."  
The beam started up.  
"Only one?" Riker asked quietly. The idea was puzzling. Who would be going to Chiron unaccompanied?  
A young woman materialized in the beam. Her skin was very pale, her ears were pointed, and her eyes were a solid milky blue, all appearances coinciding with a Chironian. Her hair was auburn and brushed her shoulders pinned back as it was. She wore a simple ankle-length dress with a squared neckline and she appeared to be barefoot.  
"Hello Captain Picard." She said formally. "My name is Alana Mortissiana." She stepped off the platform - confirming that she was in fact barefoot. She walked up to him, put her feet together and her hands behind her back in a rather cheerful manner. "I believe you'll be escorting me to Chiron?"  
The group looked at one another in confusion before looking back at her.

* * *

If this were an episode the theme song would go here.

* * *

Picard sat down behind the desk in his ready room and motioned for Alana to sit down. She smiled and smoothed the back of her skirt as she sat down.  
"Now then, Miss Alana..." Picard started. "Would you care for something to drink?" He asked, gesturing towards the replicator.  
"No thank you captain. You wanted to see me about something?" Alana responded. Picard nodded.  
"Yes. Miss Alana..." Picard knitted his fingers and leaned on the desk. "If I may ask, why are you going to Chiron?"  
"I am Chironian." Alana explained, as if that was enough.  
"Thousands of Chironians leave Chiron every year as refugees. They don't feel the need to go back." Picard countered.  
"That's true." Alana conceded. "But I'm not them."  
"Clearly not, but you haven't really answered my question." Picard pointed out.  
Alana sighed.  
"With all due respect Captain, I've been advised to keep my business as private as possible. If Starfleet hasn't saw fit to inform you, then... I don't think I should either." Alana said seriously.  
Picard sighed.  
"I cannot, in good conscious, deliver someone barely older than a child into a war, _alone,_ without knowing why." Picard insisted. Alana stood up calmly at that.  
"Captain Picard, I know I'm young but being condescending about it won't help. If you can't do this assignment _in good conscious_, or in fact at all, then feel free to send me and the supplies going to the Chironian system back to the base and Starfleet will assign another ship to do the job. If you must know more about it then feel free to contact Headquarters and maybe they'll concede to tell you more. However, as this mission is a highly sensitive one the only security measure I've been given is to keep quiet and I intend to. For my safety as well as yours." Alana finished this small speech with a huff. She sat down again, looking a bit sheepish.  
Picard stared at her intently for a moment.  
"You haven't been shown to your quarters yet. I'll have Commander Data escort you." Picard stood up and pushed his chair in. He hit his com badge.  
"Captain Picard to Commander Data, may I see you in my ready room?"  
"Aye sir." Came Data's voice from the communicator.  
Alana stood up as Commander Data came into the room.  
"Commander Data, will you please escort Miss Alana to her quarters?" Captain Picard ordered.  
"Yes sir." Data replied. "This way Miss Alana." Alana went over to the door where Data was waiting.  
"Oh, and Miss Alana." Picard added. Alana turned back to him. "It's regulation that we wear shoes while traversing the ship. If you'd be so kind as to follow them?"  
Alana looked down at her feet and wriggled her toes a little. She smirked a little and looked up again.  
"Yes sir."

* * *

**Author's Note**: This story spawned mostly out of love for Data. He's adorable isn't he? No promises on what sort of story it'll turn out to be as I'm a fairly crappy writer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note**: Chapter two... I guess. Short chapters are short.

* * *

Alana and Data entered the turbolift.  
"Deck 6," Data requested, and the turbolift started up. He paused a moment, feeling Alana looking at him. He turned his head to her and gave her a questioning gaze.  
"I'm sorry," She said. "I've just never seen anyone with your skin color before." She explained. "What are..." She trailed off, realizing the question sounded rude to ask.  
"I'm an android," Data answered anyway, accustomed to the reaction.  
"Ah..." Alana nodded her head slowly, as if that made perfect sense.  
The turbolift reached deck 6 and Alana put her hand in the crook of Data's arm as they stepped out of the lift. Data paused a moment and looked down at her hand momentarily before continuing down the corridor.  
"Here we are." Data said as they stopped in front of a door. He led her inside.  
Alana strolled around the rooms curiously.  
"Will these rooms suffice?" Data asked.  
"Yes, these rooms are fine thank you." Alana said, turning back to Data. Data nodded.  
"This is the replicator and computer console." Data said, walking over to the wall and gesturing. Alana nodded in understanding.  
"Is there anything else I can do for you?" Data asked.  
"No, thank you." Alana said. Data nodded and let himself out. Alana sighed.  
"Computer, lights at 75 %" She requested. The lights dimmed considerably and she sighed again, in relief this time. She rubbed her eyes as they relaxed.  
"They always keep these starships so bright..."  
She sat down on a convenient chair and tried to relax.

The senior officers were gathered in the observation lounge for standard missions briefing.  
"Well, according to her records she's just an ordinary young woman." Riker explained. "She's been trained in diplomacy and basic cultural skills, my best guess is she's going back as a peacemaker." Riker suggested.  
"She took my arm as I escorted her to her quarters. This suggests she's been trained for a formal setting." Data added.  
"The daughter of a dignitary of some sort?" Riker asked.  
"That sounds likely enough, but why would hiding her station be so important?" Picard questioned.  
"Maybe her parents have enemies that have the technology to capture her aboard the Enterprise?" Worf speculated.  
"No parents would call their daughter back in the middle of a war if they were directly involved." Beverly protested.  
"I have contacted Starfleet and asked for more information. They declined to give any and asked me not to speculate." Picard inform them. "Just... keep an eye on her. I doubt she' particularly dangerous, but if we're right and she is in some danger we should keep a look out. There's no harm in being cautious."

* * *

Alana kept to her rooms for the first short while of the journey, keeping to herself for as long as she could stand. But boredom overtakes even the best of us.  
"Computer, what sort of recreational facilities does the Enterprise have? Dealing with socialization specifically?" Alana asked, her patience with the walls of her quarters finally breaking.  
"Dining and drinking in a group setting availa-"  
"That sounds perfect, where is that?" Alan interrupted.  
"Deck 10." The Computer answered.  
"Thank you." Alana said, she got on her recently replicated shoes and left.

Alana walked into Ten-Forward and then stopped abruptly, feeling overcome with shyness despite the want to be out of her quarters and around people. She steeled herself with the idea that there wasn't any reason she shouldn't be there and continued to the bar.  
"Hello." Guinan said as Alana stepped up to the bar and had a seat.  
"Hi." Alana replied.  
"What can I get you?" Guinan asked congenially.  
"Umm... Something sweet?" Alana hedged.  
"Something about you tells me that you like chocolate." Guinan said in a mock suspicious tone.  
"Are there people who don't?" Alana asked.  
"Surprisingly enough there are." Guinan confirmed. "Hold on, I've got just the thing."

Data, as he notices everything, noticed Alana coming into Ten-Forward.  
"Miss Alana is here. I believe this is the first time she has left her quarters since her arrival on the Enterprise." Data noted to Geordi.  
Geordi followed Data's eyes to the bar.  
"She's not as young as Captain Picard made it seem. I was expecting her to look a lot younger." Geordi commented.  
"She is 22. She was on Earth only long enough to get 'well educated'." Data informed Geordi, who looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I read her public records at the Captain's request." Data explained.  
Geordi looked over at Alana again, who was looking around the room in a mildly interested fashion as she waited for someone to bring her whatever she ordered.  
"Let's go say hello." Geordi suggested.  
"Why?" Data asked.  
"Well, why is she here if not to find someone to talk to? C'mon." Geordi got up and Data followed.

* * *

**Author's Note**: And coming up is the rework of the 'original' first chapter. I basically started over because Alana was waaay too smarmy for me. xD


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Next chapter... I... don't have anything to say about it.

* * *

Guinan came back with a dish.  
"What's this?" Alana asked, looking at the bowl Guinan set on the bar in front of her.  
"Just a brownie. With fudge and chocolate ice cream." Guinan said. Alana looked at the dish, impressed, and took the spoon Guinan offered.  
"Nothing like a dessert to cure the onset of depression." Alana insisted.  
"Feeling depressed?" Guinan asked.  
"Not really, but an once of prevention..." Alana dug the spoon into the brownie.  
"Is worth a pound of cure." Data finished as he and Geordi came up.  
Alana looked up in surprise.  
"Hello Data, Geordi." Guinan greeted. "Can I get you two anything?"  
"We just thought we'd come up and say hello." Geordi explained as he sat down on a stool. "I wouldn't mind my usual though."  
"Coming right up. And Data, I've got something new I'd like you to try." Guinan said before she walked away.  
"Hmn." Data's eyebrows raised in curiosity.  
"Why does she want you to try it?" Alana asked, looking over at Data, who had opted to lean on the bar rather than sit down.  
"She likes to give him different drinks to see how wide his preferences are." Geordi commented with a chuckle.  
Data gave a small smile.  
Alana looked at them in confusion.  
"Have I missed some sort of inside joke?" Alana asked.  
"My ability to have preference is still relatively new. I do not know why, but it amuses Guinan to test it." Data explained.  
Alana looked at him in surprise.  
"You mean... you didn't like things before?" Alana asked in disbelief.  
"I did not." Data confirmed.  
Alana still looked disbelieving.  
"Have you forgotten that I am an android?" Data asked.  
"No, it's just... Well, it seems odd to think of anyone not having likes and dislikes. It seems like there wouldn't be much point in doing anything if you couldn't feel one way or another about anything." Alana reasoned. "What did you base your life on? What dictated your hobbies?"  
Data looked confused for a moment before responding.  
"The wish to become more human is what dictates most of my hobbies." Data answered.  
"So, you wanted something? That's a feeling isn't it?"  
"To be able to want for things is a basic emotion, that of an infant or small child. My positronic neural net had to develop more before I could be capable of more complex forms of emotion. With further development of my neural net and the installation of the correct programing I now have the emotional capabilities of an adult."  
Alana leaned on the bar a little to Guinan, who had returned with the drinks.  
"Did that sound like a come on to you?" She asked in a staged whisper.  
Geordi coughed to cover a laugh and Data straightened up in surprise.  
"That was not my intention. I was merely -"  
"Data," Guinan interrupted. "She knows." Guinan explained.  
Data looked at Guinan for a moment, then at Alana, then back to Guinan. A look of realization dawned on his face.  
"Oh, I see." Data nodded, and then his manner changed immediately.  
He went over to the other side of Alana and leaned on the bar with a smirk on his face.  
"Is the temperature measurement high in here, or is it just you?" Data asked in a smooth voice.  
Alana looked at him for a split second before putting her head down in her arms on the bar. After a moment stifled giggles could be heard.  
Data's face went out of the smirk and into puzzled surprise.  
"I do not believe that laughter is the desired response to that query." Data bent down to inform Alana.  
This just made her laugh harder.  
Data's communicator beeped at him.  
"I am on bridge duty now." Data straightened up as he informed them of the significance of the sound.  
"It was very nice meeting you again Miss Alana." He said as Alana straightened up and wiped her eyes.  
"It was nice talking to you too Data." Alana said with a smile.  
Data gave a small smile and nodded to Guinan.  
"I will see you later Geordi." Data said to Geordi and left Ten-Forward.

* * *

**Author's Note**: I think I'll just stop this here... Short chapter is short, even for me. But meh.


End file.
